Assault charge in sex den leap

TORONTO - A 27-year-old North York woman suffered potentially life-altering head injuries after falling from an 11th-floor balcony as police struggled with a man who was a client at a massage parlour where she worked.

Police sources said the man is charged with assault, but don't expect any charges to be filed against him in connect with the woman's fall as investigators are trying to determine if she jumped or fell, a source said.

Police confirmed the man was not involved in the woman's fall.

The man suffered a broken rib during a struggle as he was taken into custody by police responding to a 911 gun call at the 11th floor spa at 150 Graydon Hall, in the Don Mills Rd.-Hwy. 401 area.

Several officers also suffered injuries during the melee with the suspect, all minor except for one officer who apparently ripped a tendon or ligament in his thumb.

The call at around 5 p.m. Wednesday came as a gun call, where a woman spoke in a whisper to a police dispatcher saying she was being held at gunpoint.

Undercover officers swarmed the building and checked a spa on the 19th floor and found nothing.

But when they checked the spa on the 11th floor, they called for emergency help when the victim fell off the balcony.

Police broke into the apartment and struggled with the 39-year-old male suspect.

The victim landed on a large satellite at ground level, the impact bending the dish. The metal dish broke her fall and may have well saved her life, police said.

There was no firearm involved in the call, police said.

The Special Investigations Unit invoked its mandate, investigating the struggle between the suspect and the responding officers, and to the woman who apparently fell or jumped as police entered the apartment.

"I didn't see the lady fall off the balcony, I just heard her scream around the back there," resident Shane Cobrand said Thursday. "I guess the cops got called before she (fell)."

Resident Ken Ogden said he wants to move out of the building. The father of two boys is also upset that massage parlours are operating in his building.

"You find that type of stuff, then you start looking at people who get into drugs," he said. "Everything leads to one thing and it's all about the money."

He said he openly spoke about what happened with the boys, telling them there was a massage parlour here and "it was all about crime."

Ogden said he was returning home with the kids and was blocked from entering the area by police. He then watched as the woman was placed in an ambulance.

"It's terrible, insane, crazy," he said.

While he said didn't know there was a spa on the 11th floor, Ogden said bawdy houses are moving into apartment buildings and the complex he lives in "is full of kids."